Trial for Alleged Ferrrari Crash Driver Slated to Start Oct. 17

LEAD PROSECUTOR—Deputy District Attorney Tamara Hall outlines the charges.

photo credit MSN Photos/Frank Lamonea
CONCENTRATION—Stefan Eriksson listens to a recitation of the counts he faces. If convicted, he could face up to 14 years in state prison.

BY ANNE SOBLE

A trial date has been set for the former Gizmondo executive and race car aficionado who allegedly crashed a rare million-dollar-plus Enzo Ferrari on Pacific Coast Highway Feb. 21 while traveling at a speed of more than 160 mph.

At a status conference hearing last week, Superior Court Judge Craig Veals set Tuesday, Oct. 17, for the start of Stefan Eriksson’s trial on three felony counts each of grand theft and embezzlement and two misdemeanor DUI charges (his blood alcohol registered over the legal limit) related to the crash.

An additional felony charge of possession of a gun by a convicted felon—Eriksson, 44, was convicted for counterfeiting in his native Sweden—will be tried separately.

The fraud charges are based on the alleged illegal importing into the United States of three high performance cars—including the totalled Ferrari—under lease from British financial institutions unaware of the transit. The vehicles, valued at close to $4 million, have been returned to the leaseholders.

Eriksson’s defense team consists of attorneys Jim Parkman, Martin Adams, and William White of The Cochran Firm of Birmingham, Alabama, a law firm founded by the late Johnnie Cochran, and California Criminal Law Specialist Alec Rose.

Speaking for Eriksson’s legal team, Rose said, “[The defense] is looking forward to vindicating Stefan...when the people hear what the case is really about, they will be surprised that this man was arrested in the first place.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is represented by Deputy DA Tamara Hall.

Eriksson remains in jail without bail, a situation created by a hold placed by the federal immigration agency that is independently investigating possible irregularities in his entry into the U.S. last year. A pre-trial court hearing will take place on Friday, Sept. 29.